Quote:
Originally Posted by Tuor in Gondolin
Well hobbits used appalling weapons also, the universally banned LSB umbrella
of doom, for one. 
But the comment above about taking out Sauron long distance with arrows and spears puts another whole in PJs LoTR depictions. In the prequil (actually good overall) why not have those hundreds of elf and Dunedain archers (directed by Elrond) just pincushion Sauron. After all, in the movie he's a rather big target, hard to miss, and the archers were knocking orcs off the top of Mount Doom. |
Tiredness I guess. Using those bows are heavy Work. Medieval English longbows had a poundage of 120-150 Pounds (i saw somewhere a reference to Legolas' bow having 150 pounds of draw power; I am unsure if this is canonical but I think so).
An English longbowman could shoot 6 arrows a minute, but after a few minutes you would tire and not be able to fire anymore. Small wonder - you can't keep drawing 150 pounds forever.
Plus arrows gets used up. (English lowngbowmen had something like 10 each.)
Plus Archers were used to fire volleys, not for aiming at specific targets. Not easy hitting moving targets at long distances, especially if it emanates fear
Sauron entered the battle at a late stage - doesn't seem illogical to me that the archers were then tired and had used up most of their projectiles.